Time for a mass campaign to end Scottish teachers’ workload scandal

By Jim Halfpenny, West Dunbartonshire EIS joint secretary (personal capacity)

New international figures published by the OECD have confirmed that Scotland’s teachers work some of the longest hours in the world. 

The annual report ‘Education at a Glance’ confirms that Scotland’s teachers spent the highest percentage of their working day in front of a class. The report indicates that we spend 63% of our contractual working day teaching.

A recent survey, carried out by the EIS, found that 81% of teachers worked between five to eight extra unpaid hours each week.

• 98% of teachers felt that they did not have sufficient time to complete assessment related workload.
• 66% of our EIS members in the survey said that they were unhappy at work because of workload.
• Over 70% would not recommend teaching as a profession.
• 79% felt that support for children with Additional Support Needs is inadequate.

This extremely high class commitment squeezes the time available for the type of professional dialogue and preparation that makes a difference in terms of raising attainment, particularly for pupils disadvantaged by poverty, and is a major driver of excessive workload.

In Finland, recognised as a high achieving educational system, teachers spend only half of their working week teaching a class.

A reduction in the class-contact commitment for all teachers is a vital demand in reducing workload to a more manageable level.

Workload has always been an issue of concern for the teaching profession. However, in recent years, a number of factors have combined to push teacher workload to unsustainable levels. 

Budget and staffing cuts, increases in pupil numbers, rising class sizes, curricular and qualifications change, the rising number of pupils with Additional Support Needs, added responsibilities on literacy and numeracy – all have combined to heap additional pressures on Scotland’s teachers.

The Scottish Government guidance on workload reduction has not worked and has often been largely ignored. 

We demand that the Scottish Government legislate on class size and class contact reductions to tackle workload and address the attainment gap. 

The reorganisation of the Senior Phase in Secondary schools has, in many ways, made things worse especially around qualification changes.

Teachers believe that the SQA have little concern for their workload having stumbled their way through the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence and a faltering exam system which, despite their attempts to repair, continues to increase that workload and the inevitable stress which forces teachers to work many extra hours unpaid.

In particular, the significant increase in pupils with Additional Support Needs clearly shows the requirement for more resources and time for teachers to have a positive impact on the lives of these children.

It is essential that the success of the recent pay campaign is built upon to secure a reduction in class size maxima to 20 pupils in all mainstream classes.

This must be matched with a reduction of maximum class contact time for teachers to 20 hours per week which would increase preparation and correction time to 10 hours per week.

While the recent salary campaign showed the power and determination of teachers in Scotland, the backbone to their anger and disenchantment has always been excessive workload. The ground has been laid for another decisive campaign.